Original scientific paper

https://doi.org/10.15516/cje.v18i0.2104

Yugoslav "Socialist Aestheticism" and the Emergence of Modern Children’s Poetry

Jovan Ljuštanović ; Preschool Teacher Training College in Novi Sad

Abstract

The paper deals with the ideologically conditioned changes of cultural politics in socialist Yugoslavia in the first decade after the Second World War (1945-1955) and their influences on children’s poetry. The sudden shift from party-controlled socialist realism towards freedom of (also ideologically established) scientific and artistic creativity has resulted in the artistic and ideological phenomenon that certain literary historians call socialist aesthetics. The paper will attempt to prove that the expression of this kind of aestheticism in children’s literature is modern poetry for children. Ideas of creative freedom and general social modernism were reflected in the educational politics and social welfare of children and youth. All this is expressed in poetry that gives priority to play, primarily language play, humor, and imagination over direct pedagogical function. Such poetry has its roots in folk and European literary tradition, welcoming children’s wishes and fears. It is emancipatory and simultaneously detached from many aspects of the reality of children’s lives and children’s status in society. Such poetry emerged in various ways and within various national cultures of the former socialist Yugoslavia, at the same time realizing similar, and in many ways, comparative aesthetic and social effects.

Keywords

aesthetic function; children’s poetry; ideology; nonsense; play

Hrčak ID:

171681

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/171681

Publication date:

30.8.2016.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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